At Night
In front of a small cave
Me and my party were traveling all day; now we decided to take a break here.
I see my guards making a campfire.
Maybe I should help with the fire. It's just basic magic.
But at that moment, while I was thinking, he pulled out a fire spell and lit the fire.
This baldy is good.
He knows magic.
He's a bald, handsome, and tall guy.
He should be strong too, as he got into this party as one of my guards. That's perfect.
I will make you the mayor of somewhere one day, baldy. What was his name again? Ahh... I think it was Tonn—Tonsen.
I called him out, "Hey, Tonsen, do you know how to use magic?" He looked at me and nodded.
"Yes, I know the basics, my lord." He always looks relaxed. This baldy is really good leader material.
"I'll get something ready to eat, my lord. It may not be great, but I hope you like it."
"What are you going to make, Bal—Tonsen?" He looked at me for a second, then continued:
"I will make some grain porridge with some meat and add some sea salt to it. Pretty basic."
"Salt, finally!" one of the guards screamed and began crying.
"Oh, come on, Casin, are you literally still crying?" another one commented and rolled his eyes.
"You don't know! You don't know how it feels to eat unseasoned meat for months straight!"
"My ass! We were eating the same food as you too!" the second guard slapped the crying guard hard on the back of the head.
Okay, I can't watch these two fight anymore. I looked back to Tonsen.
"Where is the meat from, Tonsen? Did you dry it?" I asked.
"No, it's frozen, my lord. I used an ice rune. A lot of people use it in the village too."
"Ohh, I'm looking forward to it."
It is a quiet night. The fire is burning, people talking to each other in hushed voices. It's a refreshing and calming night.
Not long after, the meal was ready. We ate it and got ready for sleep after arranging people for guard duty.
"Night sky looks amazing as always." Let's sleep and rest.
Tomorrow — Spartan Village
"Sis, the people have come."
"Okay, I'm done here as well. Let's go and get this done. By the way, the grains are ready, right?"
"I got everything ready, sis, you don't need to worry. I called Captain Drata just in case too."
"Okay, let's go and get this done." We high-fived and rushed outside of the manor.
I see some beastkins talking with Captain Drata.
My sister stepped forward and began talking. "Hello."
"Ohh, hello Allia. This is Casten. He is the one in charge of this from their side."
"Hello, nice to meet you, Miss Allia." The man bowed slightly.
"Hello, Mr. Casten. Nice to meet you too. I see the irons are ready. When do you wish to handle the trade?"
"Let's do it right away, Miss Allia. We should continue toward the forest after this, and it's better if we go there before night."
"Sure thing. Sir Drata." We nodded to each other and other villagers began hauling the stuff off and onto the horse-drawn carts.
After half an hour, all the work was done. "Sir, Miss, we will take our leave now. I hope you will not take our rudeness to heart."
"Of course not, sir. Have a safe journey."
"Sis, you were so cool right there!"
"I know, I'm the best. Let's not delay our work. Send all the equipment and iron to the smithy."
"Right away, sis!" I saluted and ran off.
Back to Evander
We've been going deeper for some time now, and Baldy is still leading the way.
Tonsen told us to stop with hand gestures and pointed to the area right in front of us.
When I took a couple steps forward, I saw seven goblins guarding a cave entrance.
Tonsen whispered, "My lord, should we kill them? They look like a small tribe."
I thought for a second and got up.
"I can't be bothered with this. This should be training. Let me attack." I turned back and spoke to the others.
"You lot—if I don't need it, don't help me. And definitely don't fight them. I'll be the one taking care of them."
The goblins started to notice me too.
I'm gonna fight for real this time. For fuck's sake, I was only fighting small goblin groups until now. I need some real exercise.
"My lord, be careful, just in case," Tonsen said in a worried voice.
Baldy, I'll make you a lord in the future. What a good guy.
"Old Tonsen, don't worry that much. It's just goblins."
I didn't listen to the rest of the bullshit they were spouting. I got my shield and sword out and rushed to the goblin cave.
I slashed with the sword and cut the first one's throat in one clean cut. After killing five more, I let one go into the cave.
Tonsen's voice came from behind, "My lord, please be careful. We don't know how many of them are inside the cave." I gestured that there was no problem.
A horde of goblins rushed out of the cave while throwing rocks. I blocked them with my shield, pointed my sword toward the goblins, and fired a rain of fireballs.
Almost all of them burned or caught fire. The few that were still alive were cut down by my sword and died.
Even though the fight ended fast, it did drain me. I waited for the goblins' screams of agony to end.
The cave entrance became deadly quiet. The smell of roasted meat took over the entire radius around the cave.
"Boys, you can come out and clean the rest," I gave orders to the rest of the squad.
Tonsen came next to me and started talking respectfully, "My lord, I think you don't need to tire yourself this much. We'll be hunting here for an entire week. I'm sure you'll get enough prey."
Baldy is right. Magic is tiring. At least I should hold off on that. I'm sure I'll level up pretty good anyway.
Casin came out of the cave with a sick-looking face and threw up on a tree a little away from us.
Tonsen looked worried. "You don't need to worry. They took care of the goblin cubs and mothers, so he might not feel that good. It's normal. Just give him some time."
Tonsen nodded. After the others came out, I talked to everyone.
"It's almost dawn. Let's go and find a camping place. We don't want to stay in this open meat buffet."
"Let's depart."
"Yes, my lord."